It is no more of a simulator than FSX was back in the day. 3rd party devs, and the community made it as such. Take PMDG for example.
The level of complexity in FS2020 aircraft are miles ahead of FSX default aircraft. And rightly so given the progress in technology for the last 14 years. Now if you compare to XP11… No not a sim. At least not yet.
I am running it maxed out on my high spec PC and its great. I realised in advance the default planes are not going to be PMDG standard and not being able to open windows or doors was never high on my priority list - ooh I opened a window what shall I do next? Sure there are teething issues and some bugs but they will be fixed soon.
I guess the question comes down to what Microsoft and Asobo set as their desired MVP. My guess is that they wanted a game that has the ability to captivate and impress a majority of the people, including those who were previously not attracted to flight sims. This would probably entail a heavy focus on stunning visuals and a smooth enough experience with overall flight. Especially with the new XBOX on the horizon I can imagine that this would be their strategy.
In that sense I think they have delivered a good product (save for the 1st day installation issues which seem omni-present with triple-a games).
I just hope that the money influx and large audience will give them more time to focus on expanding the experience into being more of a sim.
Its a revolution in that we got an early access title at full premium retail price, it’s a game changer for marketing hype !
So what you are saying is they have delivered a top notch engaging arcade game that has install issues for 20% of buyers?
Well thats how it is in an A320… Just look up a tutorial on “FMC A320” and you’ll know how to program it…
And yes, not everything is implemented (yet?), but approaches and many more things are!
Look who’s back! Did you buy it even without helicopters and VR? 
Oh you are back telling people to stop moaning and invalidation of someone’s opinions again, please stop this as this is no longer the Beta forum. I thought you would be ankle deep in your new retail version of the sim but alas you are still here telling people what to think. I think the issues raised are quite fair especially the CTD issue as there is no way to learn how to deal with a CTD other than restarting again and again. So perhaps you could tell us how we learn how to deal with CTD’s? I thought by now you would have given up trying to be a moderator of this forum?
No I did not buy in and I never left except when the forum crashed for the last 36 hours. Given the problems I was wise to not buy in and I wont buy in until the sim has full functionality and a proper suite of aircraft and Vr Options . The problem is that this may be a while because unlike P3D and X Plane this sim is still on an old graphics API being Dx 11 so until they make the jump it is going to be hard to optimise for VR like it was before p3D went to Dx 12 and X plane and Aerofly went to Vulcan. I will wait .
Are you for real lol ! ?
Sure!
I have yet to experience a single CTD.
Have absolutely no interest in being a mod. I was invited to be one but didn’t apply.
Anyways, great to see that you purchased the game, despite all the moaning about helicopters and VR throughout the Alpha/Beta. Maybe you should wait patiently and enjoy what we have.
Cheers 
Top notch aren’t exactly how I would summarize my own post, but I would say that except for the (seemingly inevitable) installation issues, a lot of normal users are probably quite happy with this game, yes indeed.
Myself I want and need more of an actual sim, so I’ll just use the game-pass to try out the game from time to time until it has improved enough for me to justify to buy in cost.
Wow so you can solve a CTD without any analysis and wow they asked you to be a mod. Not sure which is more unlikely you being asked to be a mod or you saying no, but either way I was spot on the money.
Top notch marketing hype 
Yes I think he believes.
People come to these sims for different reasons. Sometimes for the wrong reasons. Like me, when I bought XP11 hoping it would be accessible and easy to use. Boy, was I wrong. I found myself way out of my depth and I’ve never been able to get on with it. MSFS 2020 comes as a breath of fresh air, with good looks and accessibility. It even works. I spent years just trying to get XP11 to give me passable frame rates at a reasonable resolution (btw, it just about got there, after a few years, and a completely new PC).
I understand that within every genre - particularly flight simulation - there will always be experts, dedicated types, perhaps even many of them with real-world experience as well as determined enthusiasm for the flight sim genre. I take my hat off to them - I’ve read many of their guides, watched many of their YT videos. I enjoy their skills vicariously, as someone who will never reach their skill tier, nor particularly as someone who has ever wanted to.
See, I don’t care if the expert flight simmers sniff at MSFS 2020. I got what I was hoping for: an easy-to-use, extremely good-looking, functional flight sim set in an astonishing facsimile of the real world. To use it, to enjoy it, I’m not required to have an encyclopedic knowledge of flight procedures; if I don’t understand what ILS is, or how to program a FMS I won’t be shut out of the experience (XP11 only ever needed a simple flight plan arrangement such as 'I want to go from ‘here’ to ‘here’ - remember Flight Sim World (RIP)? - Laminar don’t).
Asobo thoughtfully remembered that there are people like me who might love the idea of piloting or simply flying about in a virtual world based on real-world data, but lack the aptitude or interest in learning technique, so they made sure we were not left behind in MSFS 2020.
‘Virtual Trip Advisor Simulator 2020’? Perhaps. I’ll take it (I did, Premium Deluxe Edition, too!).
For you experts - knock yourselves out with complex flight plans and real-time weather and real-time flights (it’s all in there) and I’ll keep watching your YT videos as an aspirational exercise in wishful thinking on my part.
Me? I’ll just get the A.I. to help me out and fly the plane while I take some pretty pictures and stare goggle-eyed at the amazing views below (have you seen Sulawesi in this thing…?).
It’s people like you who will allow this Sim to grow and thrive. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I think your experience is very valuable, because with the small amount of serious flight simmers (like myself) the market is simply too niche. I sure hope that mfs20 will bring many new pilots to the genre. Which in turn will lead to more development and third party vendors :).
Thanks for your thoughts and Review! But I have to disagree with the Performance thing a little. Performance depends so strong on the System configurations. And this is why it´s very hard to nail down what the sweet spot for everyone is. Comparing to the last Flight Simulator from MS (I will leave out “Flight” here for several reasons) the Core Performance is much much better than FSX back in the days. I still remember the discussions with Phil Taylor about Performance and other things on his blog. There was NO System at this time that was able to run the Sim smoothly. And even 4 or 5 years later it was not possible to run it smooth without tweaking. But overall at this time it was still a mindblowing never been there before experience. And it was a start for something no one would´ve believe at this time. So I for myself see it at this kind of product. A start for something really great. It will evolve. But only with us together. That is IMHO how the Sim World works. And that is the reason, why I would never compare it to a normal “game”.
I’m definitely not disappointed. The simulator runs fine on my modest machine and the graphics are stunning. Very happy with what I got and I’m elated that it’s only getting better from here.